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"Sorry we took so long," Sarah said as we sat across from her.

"That was pretty quick, actually," she remarked in surprise. "Guess you guys just wanted to say your peace and get it over with, huh?"

"Something like that," I replied, prompting Sarah to quietly laugh. Jordan was a bit confused, but shrugged it off.

"So," Jordan said, suggestively, "I can probably guess what it was you guys talked about."

"Of course you do, big mouth," I replied with a smirk, causing the two girls to giggle. "But its fine, I'm not mad. I'm just happier to finally get everything off my chest."

"Same here," Sarah added.

"Well, that's good! I think the two of you make really great friends."

"Yeah, I agree," Sarah said, smiling to me while I had a whole mouthful of pizza. I looked at her and nodded.

"Uh-huh," I replied with my mouth full, both of them laughing again.

After we ate, the three of us hung around to chat about anything. I could never have imagined that a lunch break would've felt so fulfilling. It was good for me. I felt accomplished. But as it always went before long, it was time to go back to class.

I spent the rest of the day reflecting on how much better I'd felt as a whole; as a person. Things were going better for me now than they ever had my entire life and I say that knowing I'd been to Disney World. Nothing beats going to Disney World. But as the bell rang to finish up school for the day, I was about to learn a bit more about the negative aspects to associating myself with so many new girls. As I roamed through the hallways on my trek to leave school, a boy with short brown hair rushed up to me from behind.

Sure enough, I had attracted the freaks.

"Hey, man," he said as I turned to him.

"Hey! Johnathan!" I greeted him as we kept walking.

I was so surprised, as well as uneasy, to see him again. We hadn't really seen each other since we were kids. Back then, the guy was a pretty strange dude as far I knew from hanging out with him. He was into some really strange things; sexual things, and liked talking freely about it a lot. This was well before he'd hit puberty, too. It got to the point where I started to distance myself from him enough until he just disappeared for a while. Upon seeing his face again, all those weird memories came flooding back. I would never be able to forget all that stuff.

"Been a while, huh?" he asked, a strange excitement in his eyes.

"Yeah, what's it been like, four years? Five?"

"Something like that, yeah."

The way he looked at me was eager. He definitely wanted something from me, like I was about to spot him a hundred bucks. Something in my mind was telling me it was time to go.

"Well, I'll catch you later, okay?" I said, attempting to walk away, only for him to grab my shoulder.

"Er, wait, hold on Anthony," he said as he brought me to a stop. "I heard ... you know, some stuff about you." I looked at him suspiciously. "Good stuff! Good stuff, I swear. Like, really good stuff, you know what I mean?"

"I ... don't know what you mean," I replied, shaking my head in confusion. "Look, I really should get going."

"Wait-wait-wait-wait," he quickly said as he stopped me again. "Okay, okay. I'll cut to the chase. I want you to, you know, hook me up, dude."

I was baffled. "Hook you up?" I asked.

"You know, put in a good word for me so I can get a little action with some of the pretty faces you roll with; a little nookie, just like you got. Come on, you know what I'm sayin', right?"

I had no idea where he got that information, but I wasn't admitting to anything. I certainly wasn't running a dating service, either.

"Sorry. Can't help you," I replied with a shrug.

"Oh come on, man. I know you can spare one of your ho's for me. Come on, for old times' sake."

I didn't even respond to that. I just looked at him with an annoyed expression. The fact that he even referred to any of the girls I knew as he was not something I appreciated.

"Okay, okay. How about I ... pay you? How's fifty bucks a girl sound?"

I couldn't help but boisterously laugh at the notion of him paying me for sex.

"So what, I'm a pimp now?" I asked with an amused grin.

"Yeah, you a pimp!" he exclaimed with a laugh. "You made it, man. You're at the top of the mountain! So come on, just hook me up. I'm seriously desperate."

"I can tell," I replied, shaking my head in disbelief. "Look, I don't know what you heard but obviously you were misinformed. I don't have any ho's, or pretty faces, definitely none to spare. I'm not at the top of any mountain, I'm just another dude in the masses trying to survive high school. Okay? Sorry to let you down."

He looked like he was about to crumble to pieces before he quickly spoke up again.